


Memories of the Future

by ShibaScarf



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Slash if you squint, oh welll, totally mortified to post this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-11
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-04-03 21:16:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4115206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShibaScarf/pseuds/ShibaScarf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Booster finds something from his childhood in Gotham.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Memories of the Future

It was rare (very rare, actually), for the JLI to do business in Gotham, because Batman generally reserved missions on his home turf for himself to deal with alone.  This particular attack, however, necessitated action during day-light.  This was, as Ted understood, pretty unorthodox for Bats where Gotham was concerned.

“It just seems odd,” he yelled to Booster, trying to be heard over the sound of wind rushing by.  “He’ll walk around in the sun all the time if we’re in Latvia or even Metropolis.  But as soon as we’re in Gotham, he gets all pushy about staying out of sight?”

“Yeah,” Booster said, equally as loudly but clearly only half paying attention as he scanned the landscape for where Ted had parked the Bug.  Ted shifted ever so slightly, trying to get more comfortable without tumbling out of Booster’s arms as they flew over the city.  He actually almost did fall because suddenly Booster came to a stop and began descending.

“Wowzer,” Booster said distantly, and Ted squinted downwards to try and see what was the matter.  Looking down was a mistake.

“Wowzer?” He said, now deliberately staring up at the clouds and pretending they were not still hundreds of feet above the ground.  “We’ve got to teach you some better language, buddy.  For someone from the future, you sound an awful lot like a PSA from the fifties.  Why are we going down?”

“I didn’t think it would be here,” Booster said, more to himself than to Ted and not coming anywhere near answering Ted’s question.  “Why is it here?”

They landed in what was honestly not one of the better, softer landings of Booster’s career, and Ted was finally able to drop out of Booster’s hands to see-

“A playground?” Ted said, in surprise.  “Uh.  These are here for kids to play on, Boost.  You know, for recreation or exercise or something.”

It was a surprisingly nice playground, actually, considering the shadier part of town that it was built in.  There were some swings, a jungle gym, a small rock-climbing wall, and multiple slides.  Across the way, Ted could see a brass plaque, which probably meant the playground was donated by some philanthropist.  A single family was present, on the opposite side of the park: a dad throwing a baseball back and forth to his preteen daughter.

“I know this park,” Booster said, and Ted turned back to him in surprise.  Booster had one hand across his mouth, masking his expression from Ted for the most part.  His eyes looked wide.  “Ted, I used to play here when I was a kid!”

“Are we talking in the future?” Ted said, now thoroughly interested.  Any chance to discuss time travel and glean details from Booster’s descriptions was welcome.  “This playground is still here in the 25th century?”

“Yeah,” Booster said, sounding a bit in awe and taking a few hesitant steps forward.  “I mean, it looked… will look… a lot shabbier.  There was more garbage and chipped paint and graffiti.”

“I forgot you were from around here,” Ted said, following Booster over to the swing-set and plunking down on one (ignoring the screech of protesting chains that were not meant to support muscular superheros dressed like blue insects).  “You must have a ton of memories of this place, then.  Future memories?  Future visions?  Does this count as seeing the future?”

Booster ignored him, rolling his eyes, and pointed to the rock climbing wall.  “I used to race Michelle to the top of that.  She always won.  Of course,” he remarked, looking over his shoulder to smile wryly at Ted in that way that made his stomach clench just a little, “she always cheated.  She was taller than me all the way until high school, so she had an advantage.  Plus, she started on ‘three’ instead of ‘go’.”

“I wish I could have met her,” Ted said warmly, and Booster smiled back in appreciation before crossing over to the largest slide and crawling into the narrow space under the stairs.  Curious, Ted hopped off the swing and trudged over, pieces of woodchips sticking to his boots from the small afternoon drizzle of earlier.  Booster was crouched under the stairs, looking out towards the street.  Ted stooped down and looked at him curiously.

“We used to sit under here if it got dark,” Booster said.  “We’d keep an eye out for Mom from here and wait for her to come take us home.”

“You came here alone?” Ted said in surprise.  “I mean…. This is kind of a shifty neighborhood to leave kids alone at.  Especially if the playground goes downhill in the future.”

“We, uh…” His voice hitched.  Booster pushed past Ted suddenly, emerging from under the stairs and brushing off woodchips from his knees and hands.  Ted stood behind him and waited for Booster to gain some composure before he resumed.  “She used to drop us off here, sometimes.  Just if she knew that-”  Another very brief pause.  “If she knew that debt collectors would be stopping by the apartment.”

Ted didn’t know what to say about that, so he settled for putting one hand on Booster’s shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting gesture.  Booster turned around, his eyes bright with emotion.

“She was a good mom,” he insisted.  Ted nodded.

“There’s a wall back at the training room at HQ,” Ted said suddenly, and then had to backpedal as Booster gave him a confused look.  “A rock-climbing wall.  Way bigger, of course.  You wanna go back and race?”

“You’re probably way faster than me,” Booster said with a laugh, punching Ted in the shoulder lightly.  “You’re the acrobatics genius.”

“Sure, but you’ve got the height advantage,” Ted shot back.  “And I’ll let you start on ‘three’ instead of ‘go’.”

“You’re on,” Booster said, grabbing Ted and taking off into the air.  “And Ted?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

**Author's Note:**

> first boostle fic, ack  
> done by request at my tumblr, shibascarf.tumblr.com

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Memories of The Future - Remix](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11655597) by [lactonic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lactonic/pseuds/lactonic)




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